USA > Pennsylvania > Bucks County > The history of Bucks County, Pennsylvania : from the discovery of the Delaware to the present time > Part 53
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The first pastor at Tohickon is not known, but the Reverend Casper Wack was in charge from 1770 to 1782, and likewise at In- dianfield in Rockhill, and the Great Swamp in Lehigh county. He was the first young man in these denominations ordained to the ministry in America, and Tohickon was his first church. Nocka- mixon was added to his charge by the synod in 1773, and he sup- plied several other churches in the county. He lived in Hilltown,
560
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY,
about two miles from the present Hilltown church. For eighteen years, from 1782 to 1800, we have no record of the pastors of the church ; but from the latter year, to his death, in 1818, the Rev- erend Jacob Senn was the pastor, and also at Nockamixon, Indian- field, and Charlestown, now Trumbauersville. He was succeeded by Reverend John Andrew Strassburger, who remained in charge until 1854, and died in 1860, in his sixty-fourth year. He wielded a large influence in the upper section of the county. Mr. Strass- burger was succeeded by the Reverends J. H. Derr, who now lives in Ohio, Peter S. Fisher, who resigned a few years before his death, and Jacob Kehm, the present pastor. They ministered to all the churches in this charge.
The graveyard hands down the names of the pioneers who wor- shiped on the banks of the Tohickon. We noticed in this ground the same fact that is noticeable in all the old graveyards in the county, that the stones mark four periods in the interments : first, the primitive rock, from the foundation of the church down to about 1750, generally without inscription ; next, slate, to 1775, then brown sandstone to about 1800, followed by marble, first blue and then white. German inscriptions were universal to within thirty or forty years. The stones show a sprinkling of English names, prob- ably of settlers in Tinicum or of some of the English-speaking people who settled along the Deep run. The earliest stone, with an in- seription, was raised to the memory of Johan Henrich Eckel, prob- ably the ancestor of the family in the township that bears this name, who died November 24th, 1764, his wife Susannah, born in 1719, surviving him to 1803, thirty-nine years of widowhood. Then we have Felix Lehr, 1769, Michael Ott, 1767, and his wife Catharina, in 1792, Johannes Honig, the original of Haney, born in 1714, died in 1787, and Jacob Nonnemacher, born 1720, and died 1788. Sev- eral stones bear the name of Salade, the original of Solliday. The late Henry Eckel was organist in the old stone church.
Keller's church, Lutheran and Reformed, is situated on the Ridge road, leading from Bucksville to Sellersville, near Haycock moun- tain, and was organized early, but the date we cannot give. In 1751 the Reverend Mr. Rauss, Lutheran, accepted a call, and reached his new charge in a fifteen days' journey from New York.
The Keichlines, of Bedminster, not so numerous as they were half a century ago, are descended from John Peter Keichline, who immigrated from Heidelberg, Germany, and settled in this township
561
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
as early as about 1742. He had three sons, Peter, Andrew, and Charles, all of whom entered the Revolutionary army. Peter, who lived at Easton, as early as 1749, raised a company of riflemen in Northampton and Bucks, for Colonel Miles's regiment, and was in command of it at the battle of Long Island, 1776, where he was taken prisoner. Lord Sterling wrote to Washington that the English General Grant was killed by some of Keichline's riflemen. Andrew was promoted to a majority on the field of Monmouth. Charles, who entered the army later than his brothers, took the oath of allegiance in June, 1778. Jacob Keichline, son of Andrew, born in Bedminster, September 8th, 1776, and died February 26th, 1861, well-known in the upper section of the county, was the landlord of Keichline's tavern in Bedminster thirty-six years. Andrew and Charles Keichline, were both born in Bedminster, the former being the grandfather of William H. Keichline, Philadelphia. Peter Keichline built the first flour-mill on the Bushkill. Andrew owned and kept a tavern, now a dwelling house, opposite Tohickon church.
George Piper, the founder of Pipersville, and the ancestor of those bearing the name in that section of the county, was born on the Wissahickon, Philadelphia county, November 11th, 1755. He removed to Bedminster about the time he arrived at manhood, and married a daughter of Arnold Lear, of Tinicum. About 1775 he opened store at Pipersville, and in 1778 he moved into the tavern at that place, which he kept until his death in 1823. He was an officer in the Continental army, and a colonel in the state militia ; and assisted General Paul Mallet Provost to purchase the tract of land on the east bank of the Delaware, on which he afterward laid out Frenchtown, Hunterdon county, New Jersey. Colonel Piper listened to the reading of the Declaration of Independence in front of the state house, Philadelphia, July 4th, 1776. The tavern at Pipersville was built by one Bladen in 1759. The sign of the old inn, simply "Piper's tavern," was painted on a board and fastened to the front of the upper porch. It was called Bucks County hotel while Jacob Keichline was landlord, and was only called Pipersville when the post-office was established, in 1845, and Jacob Nicholson appointed postmaster.
In Bedminster there is a labyrinth of roads, but we know little about those earliest laid out. It is a difficult thing to recognize ocal roads after the lapse of many years, and a change of the names of points that fixed them at their opening. The township is cut by
36
NORTH BRANCH
1
MILL CREEK TOWNSHIP.
BETHLEHEM TOWNSHIP
OF DELAWARE
RIVER
BRANCH
WEST
TOWNSHIP.
LOWER SAUCON TOWN SHIP.
DUR HAM.
MACCONGY
UPPER SAUCON
SPRINGFIELD
NOCKAMIXON.
UPPER MILFORD,
TOHICKON CREEK
RICHLAND TOWNSHIP.
LOWER MILFORD
MAP OF UPPER END BUCKS COUNTY. 1750.
4
563
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
on a small stream that joins Deep run, east of the Presbyterian church. These mills were followed by Jacob Stover's on the To- hickon, and Henry Black's oil-mill on Cabin run and Durham road, half a mile below Pipersville, since torn down. In 1753 the widow Sheaver owned a mill, but we do not know the location, and the same year a road was laid out from it to Deep Run meeting-house. One of the petitioners was Reverend Francis McHenry. Among early mills on Tohickon were those of Ichabod Wilkinson, White's, and Henry Lot's.
A school-house formerly stood on the Easton road at the foot of Deep run hill, three-fourths of a mile above Pipersville, but was torn down some years ago. It was built in 1805 by Colonel Piper, Abraham Hight, William Meyers, and Frederick Keehler, and among those who taught in it was the late Charles B. Trego, of Philadelphia. In early imes peaches were raised in great quantities in Bedminster, and the crops were most prolific between 1811 and 1825. The production was greater than the consumption, and the surplus was hauled by wagon-loads to the distilleries to be made into peach-brandy. From about 1780 to 1820 Bedminster was a great field for catching wild pigeons, which gave rise to much sport. They came in large flocks, and were caught in nets. Those who most excelled in catching them were Abraham Kulp, Jacob Wismer, Jacob Angany, and Abram Overholt. Wismer frequently caught as many as would fill two or three barrels before breakfast. Many were salted down for future use, but large numbers were sold in the neighborhood, at twenty-five cents a dozen, or sent to the Philadel- phia market.
Bedminster has five villages, at least localities that bear the name, Pipersville, on the Easton road, in the south-cast corner, Dublin, on the Swamp road, in the south-west corner, Hagersville and Keelers- ville, on the Old Bethlehem road, in the north-west corner, and Bedminsterville, situated at the intersection of the roads that lead from the Mennonite meeting-house to Keller's shop, and from the Durham to the Dublin road. Of these, Dublin is the most consider- able. It is said to have taken its name from the old log tavern that first dispensed the good things of life to man and beast at this point. It was a double building, and got the name of the double-inn, and in the course of time the name was a little changed, and the hamlet that grew up around it was called Dublin. This was nearly a cen- tury ago. Three taverns have stood on the spot occupied by the
564
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
old hostelry. During the Revolution it was kept by a man named Robinson, whose son was a royalist and an associate of the Doanes. We are told that after the war was over it is supposed he lay con- cealed a long time in the house between two partitions. He was watched, but not discovered. The father was drowned in a creek on the premises. Here there are two taverns, a church, a store, mechanics, several dwellings, and a post-office, established in 1827, with Newton Rowland postmaster, and a carriage-factory. Each of the other villages has a tavern, store, and a few dwellings. Pipersville, Hagersville and Bedminsterville are post-villages, where offices were established in 1845 and 1851. This township is well- watered by Cabin, Deep, Wolf, Deer, and Mink runs, branches of Tohickon, and by the north branch of Perkiomen. The surface is roll- ing, with but few hills, the soil is generally fertile, and produces good crops under careful German tillage. The area is sixteen thousand and fifty-eight acres. In 1784 the population was 988 white in- habitants, 3 blacks, and 143 dwellings. In 1810 it was 1,199; 1820, 1,248 ; 1830, 1,594, with 338 taxables ; 1840, 1,630 ; 1850, 1,911; 1860, 2,238; and in 1870, 2,370, of which 6 were colored and 40 foreign-born.
Among the early settlers in Bedminster, we find that Mrs. Agnes Darrah died August 3d, 1820, at the age of ninety, Abraham Leatherman in 1823, in his eighty-fourth year, and Barbara Fretz the same year, aged eighty-five.
The accompanying map of the "Upper end of Bucks county" was copied from an old one drawn between 1742 to 1750. It gives the location of the townships formed in the upper section at that period after Springfield had been organized, but before its "adja- cents" had been laid out and declared Haycock township. It shows several townships now in Northampton and Lehigh, namely : Beth- lehem, Millcreek and Lower Saucon in the former, and Upper Sau- con, Upper Milford and Macungie in the latter. That Williams township, which was organized in 1750, is not given upon it is evi- dence that the original map was drawn prior to that year. Durham township was not organized until 1775.
565
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
SPRINGFIELD.
1743.
An extreme northern township .- Route of first settlers .- Earliest purchase .- Wil- liam Bryan, Stephen Twining, George Bachman, John Briggs .- Moldavia .- Names of settlers in 1743 .- Horne homestead .- Reverend A. R. Horne .- Town- ship organized .- Schuggenhaus .- Lottery lands .- Stephen Twining, Abraham Reazer .- First grist-mill .- Mills of Funk and Houpt .- Springfield church and pastors .- Mennonite congregations .- Zion Hill church .- Old school-house .- Springfield Friends .- Roads .- Villages .- Springtown et al .- Old tavern at Stony Point .- Buckwampum .- Population .- Red clover introduced .- Area.
SPRINGFIELD, one of our extreme northern townships, and bor- dering on Northampton and Lehigh counties, is inhabited almost exclusively by Germans. With the exceptions of Durham and Haycock, it was the last of the original townships to be organized.
Probably the earliest settlers in Springfield found their way to it up the valley of Durham creek, which rises in the interior of the township. The settlement about Durham furnace was the first per- manent inroad on the wilderness of that section of the county, for, as the river afforded open communication with Philadelphia and the country below, it was the most accessible route of immigration. Durham was an English settlement, and the first purchasers of land in Springfield were of the same race. Some English settlers reached
566
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
this township through the "Swamp" and "Richlands," and when the Germans came into it, a little later, it was by the same route. We behold this interesting fact in the settlement of this township, that the two flanking currents of immigration, one up the Delaware and the other up the Perkiomen, met in the valleys of Springfield, where Teuton and Anglo-Saxon had a peaceful contest for the mastery.
The earliest purchase of land that has met our notice, although there were settlers there several years before, was made in 1737, when the tract on which Houpt's mill stands was surveyed to John Hughes, but it was patented to William Bryan in 1758. On the 1st of May, 1738, the Proprietaries conveyed six hundred and fifty- one acres on Cook's creek to Casper Wister, of Philadelphia, but never a settler in the township, who sold five hundred acres of it to Stephen Twining, of Wrightstown or Buckingham, the 26th of the same month, for the consideration of £187. 10s. This tract was on Durham or Cook's creek, below Springtown. Twining became a resident of the township. The 3d of October, 1739, two hundred and seventy acres on Cook's creek and embracing the site of Spring- field church were granted to Christian Shuck. On the 12th of May, 1741, the Proprietaries confirmed one hundred additional acres to Stephen Twining, adjoining the first purchase. The warrant was dated June 8th, 1739, and the land was laid out October 15th on a "branch of Cook's run." In 1739 Nicholas Hill purchased three hundred and twenty-one acres on a branch of the same creek, near the Durham line. In 1740 George Bachman, an early settler in Richland, and one of the earliest German pioneers in the upper end of the county, purchased two hundred and thirteen acres "at the branches of the Tohickon and Saucon creeks," in the north-west part of the township. The following year John Briggs purchased four hundred and seventy-two acres, also on a branch of Cook's creek, near Durham, and probably he and Hill both located in the valley above Bursontown. In 1745 Joseph Blair purchased one hundred and fifty acres adjoining John Briggs. In 1743, by virtue of a warrant dated May 8th, eighty-five acres, called "Moldavia," were surveyed to John Moffitt, adjoining Stephen Twining's. In 1755 Moffitt conveyed to Jonathan Carr, in 1762 Carr to William Baker, in 1773 Baker to William Trapp, of Northampton county, and in 1786 Trapp conveyed to John Siford, (Seifert.) James Lo- gan was the original holder of a large tract in the township, inclu-
567
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
ding the Houpt farms, extending to the Durham line. In 1787 Samuel Blackenridge, (sometimes spelled Breckenridge,) patented one hundred and twenty-nine and a half acres, partly in Springfield and partly in Lower Saucon, called "Springhill," now known as Colehill.
Immigrants came pretty rapidly into the township during the first years of its settlement, for we have the names of over thirty, probably all heads of families, who were living there in 1743,. German and English, namely: James Green, Stephen Twining, William Crooks, Brien Connilin, Hugh Orton, Joseph Blair, Rich- ard Jonston, Jacob Mason, Jacob Abel, Samuel Hillborn, John Leister, Christian Levy, Conrad Fahr, Peter Lester, John McCoy, Thomas Folly, Thomas Adamson, Joseph Bond, Joseph Unthank, Conrad Flores, James Williams, Peter Ashton, Christian Shock, Michael Dort, Peter Ademose, Thomas Blair, Michael Gold, Thomas Lloyd, Michael Dillard, Christian Spug, Peter Leatherman, Simon Carey, John Greasley, George Hazeley, Daniel Stout, Stephen Acorman, Henry Hornel, Philip Roup, Jacob Maure, Jacob Huber, and Michael Gould.
Before 1738, Thomas Parwin, of Milford, received a warrant for one hundred acres, which he located on "Squooks," now Cook's, creek, in the western part of the township. In October of the same year he sold the improvements and all the rights acquired under the warrant, to Joseph Unthank. This tract is now owned by Reverend A. R. Horne, in whose family it has been for over a century. The engraving represents the house as it now appears, and it is probably the oldest. dwelling in the township. The one-story part was built by Parwin, or Unthank after he bought it, probably about 1743, and is an interesting relic of the past. It is stone, and the walls very thick and strong. The Ashtons owned several hundred acres to the north-west of Quakertown and Springtown road, but the family have passed away more than a generation ago, and their extensive possessions have fallen into other hands. The Bryan homestead, where the progenitor, William, settled, and the late General John S. was born, is on the opposite side of the road, half a mile east of Cook's creek crossing, but has long since passed out of the family. Simon Garis bought twenty-five acres in Springfield in 1751.
How early the Hornes came into Springfield we know not, but in 1765 Valentine bought sixty acres. His descendant, Reverend
568
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
A. R. Horne, son of David L. and Mary N., was born in 1834. He early exhibited great taste for reading and fondness for preach- ing, frequently gathering his young playmates to listen to his harangues. He attended school in the township, and John Price's boarding-school at Line Lexington. He taught public-schools from 1850 to 1854, including one year in charge of the Bethlehem school, when he entered the Pennsylvania college, at Gettysburg, where he graduated in 1858. The same year he established the Bucks county Normal school at Quakertown, and remained in charge five years. From 1865 to 1872 he was pastor of the Lutheran church at Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and four years of the time was su- perintendent of the city schools. In 1872 he became the principal of the Keystone State Normal school, at Kutztown, which he retains. He has been the editor of the National Educator since the spring of 1860, when he established that paper, and he is now publishing a Manual for Pennsylvania Germans. Mr. Horne is a good type of a farmer's son determined to win his way in the world.
un That Sit C.N.V.C
BIRTH-PLACE OF REVEREND A. R. HORNE, THE OLDEST HOUSE IN SPRINGFIELD.
On the 16th of June, 1743, the inhabitants of Springfield, whose names we have given in a previous page, petitioned the court to permit their settlements to be " comprehended in a new township." While the records do not show any action taken by the court, except the filing of the petition, we know that the prayer of the petitioners was granted, and the township was surveyed and laid
569
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
out immediately afterward. At this time there were fifty-six " dwellers" there, probably meaning heads of families, but we have only been able to obtain the names already mentioned. The name " Springfield" was given to it because of the great number of springs that gushed out of its hillsides and formed brooks and creeks that went meandering through its pleasant valleys. When Schlatter visited the township in 1745, he called it "Schuggenhaus," probably the corruption of some Indian local name, or a name given by some of the early German settlers.
By the original survey, the north-west boundary of Springfield did not extend quite up to the line of the two Saucons, but an intervening strip was left between them and the new township. At the September term, the same year, the lines were ordered to be changed so as to run with the Saucons, which made the boundary on that side as it is at present. At the same term the court ordered an alteration to be made in the southern boundary, on the petition of seventeen inhabitants who had fallen without the township at the first survey, and now asked to be taken in. The original southern boundary, which ran north sixty-six degrees east, from the north- east corner of Richland to the south-west corner of Durham, was now changed to south twenty-four west, till it met the Haycock creek, and thence by north-east and north-west courses to the corner of Durham, making the lines the same as now. This change was made to save the petitioners from having so far to go to mend roads and attend to other township business. But for it they would have been left in the unorganized territory that afterward became Haycock. At this time the territory of Haycock was probably included in Bedminster for certain municipal purposes. The peti- tion for this latter change was drawn by Joseph Dennis, whose place of birth is vouched by the expression "he makes bould to acquaint the bench." Afterward Dennis got back into Haycock, as we find his name to the petition for laying off that township, and he is claimed as an original settler there.
About four thousand acres in Springfield, a tract over three miles long and two wide, were included in the one hundred thousand acres that John and Thomas Penn intended to dispose of by lottery-tickets in 1735. The scheme embraced seven thousand seven hundred and fifty tickets, of which one thousand two hundred and ninety-three were to be prizes, and the balance blanks-the prizes numbering from twenty-five acres to three thousand acres. As the drawing
570
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
never took place, the tickets, which were sold at forty shillings each, secured title to land, and the holders were allowed to locate on them. The tract in question lay bordering on the manor of Richland. Probably all the settlers here were Germans, but among the land-owners were George McCall, Anthony Butler, and Casper Wister, speculators, who soon sold out to actual settlers. The lottery tract was almost exclusively settled upon by Germans, and the land has passed down from father to son, and it is doubtful whether there is an English settler upon it at this time. It is probable many of the patentees were not the original holders of the lottery-tickets, but bought of the owners. This land is among the very best in the township. Among the settlers was a widow, named Barbara Rohr, whose son married a daughter of Leonard Buck. A map of these lands was found among the Penn Papers lately purchased by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and we are indebted to Mr. William J. Buck for a copy. The accompany- ing engraving shows each tract, with the name of the owner.
Of the early settlers in Springfield we have knowledge of several and whence they came. The ancestor of the Hess family was Nicholas Hess, born in Zweibrucken, Germany, in 1723, came to America when a young man, married Catharine Funk, who was an American, settled in Springfield township, about two miles south of Springtown, and died in 1795. They had three sons, named Con- rad, Philip, and John George, and two daughters, Elizabeth and Catharine. All their five children married and had children. Con- rad settled at Springtown, Philip lived near Springtown, and John George settled at the Saucon creek, in Northampton county, about one mile from its mouth. From these descended the Hess family, quite numerous in the upper end of Bucks and in Northampton county. There are now living of the three sons of Nicholas, chil- dren, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grand- children.
Nicholas Buck, the ancestor of the family of this name in our county, immigrated from near Thionville, in Lorraine, about 1753. He is said to have descended from a noble family of Franconia, which dates back to the time of the Crusades. A branch of it after- ward settled in Alsace and Lorraine, where they held seigniories or lordships, which remained in the family until the confiscations fol- lowing the French revolution. The name is German. He is sup- posed to have come to America from a love of adventure. He re-
ريد
Manor of Richland Line
73 .A. (23 PS Jacob Starner. 1790.
75 A. 12 PS Robert Ashton. 1746.
150A. 9425
150 A. 159 PŞ William Bryan. 1760.
771 4. IN PS Nicholas Back. 1773.
15/ 09 142 PS Christian Gayman. 1769.
158 A. 41 PS Peter Heft .. 1789.
Abraham Reezer. 1760.
PO AL.35PS Jacob Starner. 1788.
98 2. 150Ps Stephen Horn. 178 8.
68A.10 PS Solomon Gruber 1789.
38 A. G3 PS
Ebenezer Walker.
1789.
19 A.48 .PE
Stephen Horas
~189.
100 A. Casper Wisten 1738.
116,2 A.
Casper Gross. 176%
Sol non Gruber.
176%.
54 .A. IL4 Pt
1767.
1214. 87 PS Emanuel Burk. 1788.
.A.
5
1767.
125 A. 42 Ps Peter Meyer. 1770.
23/ .9. 89 PS George Ernig or Linie, 1768
50 A i P: Michael Smell 1768.
125 A. 53 PS Christian Puss. 1169.
Barbara Rhon.
136 A. 1774.
146 .A. 152 Pf Barbara Rhor. 1715:
Map of
LOTTERY LAND
adjoining the
Manor of Richland. 1735.
A.
George ME Call. 1737.
Peter Hendrick.
56 .A. 14A PS Thomas Kann.
.
571
HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY.
sided in Berks county two or three years, and removed to Spring- field about 1758, where he first purchased one hundred and eighty- two acres on the Bethlehem road, a little south of the Springfield church, and in 1769 he applied for a tract adjoining, in the lottery lands, containing one hundred and seventy-one acres and one lun- dred and eleven perches, which was conveyed to him by patent in 1773. On these tracts he made the first improvements, and spent most of his life as a farmer, and died in 1787. His first wife was a Kohl and his second a Hartman, both married in this county. His children by the former were, Leonard and Joseph, and by the latter, Nicholas, Jacob, John, Barbara, Mary Ann, Elizabeth, and Madaline, who married into the families of Clemmer, Kemp, Kohl, McCarty, and others. Mr. Buck was a man of education, and could speak four languages. He espoused the cause of his adopted country, and took the oath of allegiance in the Revolutionary struggle. He left numerous descendants, which are scattered over half the states of the Union.
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